The Really Big Show

Rodney Dangerfield spent the 1980s using his HBO specials as a kingmaker, plucking future heavyweights like Sam Kinison and Jim Carrey from obscurity and putting them on national television. For his sixth cable outing in 1991, he operates on the same premise, but the radar is glitching. Framed by a series of narrative interludes where he goes in disguise to venues like the Chinese Theater and the Beverly Hilton to recruit the next big thing, the showcase is heavy on concept and light on star-making sets. The comics he unearths this time around are reliable club workers like Bob Zany, Hugh Fink, Sid Youngers, and Harry Basil.

The real draw remains the host. He opens the hour with a tight sprint of his signature self-deprecation, throwing out bits about a neighborhood so poor the rainbows were in black and white, and a wife who responded to his bedroom critiques by getting a second opinion. He supplements the stand-up with a parade of celebrity cameos, roping in Fred Willard, Mr. T, and Steve Allen to pad out the sketches. It functions less like a launchpad for the stars of tomorrow and more like a veteran working professional cashing in some industry favors, comfortably delivering the self-effacing misery his audience expects.